Tag Archive: Business

“Three Atlanta-area counties have filed a lawsuit claiming that British bank HSBC cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in extra expenses and damage to their tax bases by aggressively signing minorities to housing loans that were likely to fail.

The Georgia counties‘ failure or success with the relatively novel strategy could help determine whether other local governments try to hold big banks accountable for losses in tax revenue based on what they claim are discriminatory or predatory lending practices.

Similar lawsuits resulted in settlements this year worth millions of dollars for communities in Maryland and Tennessee.”*

HSBC is being sued by three Atlanta counties for predatory loans sold to minorities. What tactics did they and other big banks use before and during the housing boom? And who is being punished now?

Marion Barry was D.C.‘s mayor for sixteen years (1979-91 and 1995-99), and currently he’s a city council member representing Ward 8, a section of D.C. that’s overwhelmingly African-American. Barry, who popularized the phrase “Bitch set me up!” during an FBIsting operation that sent him to prison, is back in the news for declaring that Asian business owners in his district should be driven out. “We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops,” he said at an April 3rd campaign event. “They ought to go. I’m going to say that right now.” Reason.tv Correspondent Kennedy caught up with Barry at D.C.’s City Hall to discuss his comments.

Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores the question of just how high U.S. tax rates should or shouldn’t be and examines the relationship between economic activity and tax rates. It’s part of his ongoing reporting series, Making Sen$e of financial news.